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August 20, 2009
Obama Reaches Out to Pakistani Jihadists
Obama reaches out to Pakistani jihadists
by Adam Entous
ISLAMABAD
U.S. President Barack Obama has started reaching out to some of Pakistan's most fervent Islamist and anti-American parties, including one that helped give rise to the Taliban, trying to improve Washington's image in the nuclear-armed state.
Obama's special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, is initiating dialogue between the United States and religious parties previous administrations had largely shunned, both sides said.
"The purpose is to broaden the base of American relations in Pakistan beyond the relatively narrow circle of leaders Washington has previously dealt with," explained Vali Nasr, senior adviser to Holbrooke.
John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Bush presidency, questioned Holbrooke's timing for trying to engage Taliban sympathizers on the eve of elections in neighboring Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are battling the hardline Islamic group.
"As a general proposition, democracy in Pakistan is fragile enough now that negotiating with people that some on the democratic side of the Pakistani spectrum would think themselves are terrorists strikes me as fairly risky," Bolton said.
"What we ought to be doing is making sure that our ties with the military are strong because the gravest risk is radical penetration of the military."
This outreach has only made the jihadists more demanding:
At one of this week's sessions, Liaqat Baloch, a top member of the religious, right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, told Holbrooke he welcomed the new administration's public change in tone toward Muslims around the world.
But Baloch said he was disturbed to see "no change in practice" in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Obama has stepped up military operations against the Taliban on both sides of the border.
Holbrooke invited Jamaat-e-Islami, whom some U.S. officials compare to the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, to visit the heavily guarded American embassy compound in Islamabad, seeking to dispel long-running rumors that thousands of U.S. Marines would be based there.
"NEW ERA"
Holbrooke rejected the party's complaints about a Western "assault" on Islam, saying "that could not be further from the truth" with Obama, who has roots in the religion, now in the White House.
Fazl-ur-Rehman, whose Jamiat-e-ulema-e-Islam party was active in rousing support for the Taliban in 1990s, also got an audience with Holbrooke and his team.
Rehman denies al Qaeda's responsibility for the September 11, 2001, attacks, and once warned that if U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, no American in Pakistan would be safe.
In more recent years, however, Rehman's relationship with the Taliban has grown uneasy, and he has publicly supported negotiations between the U.S.-backed government in Kabul and the Islamist group.
"His hands aren't exactly clean," Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation said of Rehman. "He is associated with the Taliban."
Wild Thing's comment.....
As usual, Bolton is right!
Obama has already kicked India in the teeth and now he wants to undercut the few rational minds there are left in Pakistan. And Obama could care less about our troops in Afghanistan.
Posted by Wild Thing at August 20, 2009 06:49 AM
Comments
Here, Paper Tiger! We are so pleased to see you!, said the jihadist to The One!, who smiled his dazzling smile as more innocent women and children were blown up.
Posted by: yankeemom at August 20, 2009 08:07 AM
He has dissed Israel, dissed India and reaches out to believers in an evil cult of intimidation, terrorism, death and destruction. He is this countries biggest danger to itself and he unfortunately has a lot of help from congress.
Posted by: Bob A at August 20, 2009 09:01 AM
obama still hasn't figured out that cutting deals with your enemy is a no-win situation. Richard Holbrooke is not my idea of a diplomat. He will give away to the Taliban and we will get nothing out of the deals he cuts.
Oh yeah, obama is a muslim.
Posted by: TomR at August 20, 2009 03:30 PM
Yankeemom, good point thank you.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 20, 2009 11:37 PM
Bob A., your right, if he didn't have the
Congress a dem majority he would not be
able to get away with a lot of his stuff
he has been doing.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 20, 2009 11:41 PM
Tom, your right, I am no fan of Holbrooke.
obama is still a muslim
He could do that like John Kerry did with
his I was in Vietnam.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 20, 2009 11:44 PM
